After Leading Early Terps Fall At #1 Virginia In ACC Quarters

Maryland Athletics

11-3-2013

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Senior Hayley Brock gave the University of Maryland women’s soccer team an early lead, but undefeated Virginia rallied to earn a 6-1 victory in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament Sunday afternoon at Klockner Stadium.

“This wasn’t our best performance by any measure,” said Maryland head coach Jonathan Morgan. “We got an early lead which gave us some confidence, but we stopped being aggressive and just settled in defensively, which isn’t how we want to play. Some immature mistakes then cost us some goals and then we had to chase the game when we didn’t need to. Give credit to Virginia though, which is the best team I’ve seen since I’ve been in the ACC, but ultimately we made things too easy for them today.”

Maryland opened the scoring as Brock delivered the game’s first goal in the fifth minute on a terrific individual effort. With a couple of touches she brought the ball down the right seem and was able to get off of a sliding shot that curled into the left side of the netting to put the Terps up 1-0.

The Cavaliers had their first great opportunity of the match in the 14th minute when Gloria Douglas got in behind the Maryland defense and had a one-on-one with sophomore keeper Rachelle Beanlands, but Beanlands boldly came off of her line and smothered Douglas’ effort as it left her foot.

Maryland’s defense came up with another big play as UVa’s Morgan Brian led a 4-on-3 break in the 25th minute, but sophomore Shannon Collins made a high-risk, high-reward play on the ball and picked it cleanly from Brian to end the threat.

But the Virginia pressure finally broke through in the 28th minute to tie the match at 1-1 off of an acrobatic header by Brian that found the upper right corner of the Terrapin goal.

The Cavaliers took the lead for good in the 32nd minute when Danielle Colaprico finished a one-timer from Brian near the top of the Terrapin 18. The Virginia lead grew to 3-1 in the 39th minute on a goal by Morgan Reuther.

Brian scored her second of the game on free kick in the 44th minute from 25 yards out to make it a 4-1 Cavlaier lead heading into halftime.

The Terps had a chance early in the second half as Brock was taken down near the top of the Cavalier defensive third. Senior Megan Gibbons chipped the free kick inside the Virginia 18 where freshman Maren Knudsen tried to get on the end of it, but she was ruled to be a bit too aggressive and was whistled for the foul to end the threat.

Maryland tried to get something going in the 60th minute with Brock sending a through ball down the left slot looking for junior Shade Pratt, who got past the Virginia defenders. But even with Pratt’s exceptional speed the pass was a bit too strong and she couldn’t get control of the ball before it crossed the end line.

Virginia’s Makenzy Doniak had a good look from the left side in the 65th minute and sent a blast toward the upper left corner, but junior Kristene Mumby, who entered the game in net for the Terps at the start of the second half, made a leaping save and nimbly recovered to snag the rebound before Doniak could take advantage.

The Terrapins created their best scoring opportunity of the match in the 69th minute when Pratt played a centering pass to Brock,who then slipped a through ball past the Cavalier defense for redshirt sophomore Alex Doody. Doody got off a clean shot at the Virginia net, but Wahoo keeper Morgan Stearns reacted quickly enough to punch the ball over the cross bar and deny Maryland its second goal of the match.

Mumby made another highlight-reel save in the 74th minute, coming off of her line to block a point-blank chance for Virginia’s Amber Fry as she dribbled in from the left side of the Terrapins’ 18.

Brock made another terrific individual effort in the 77th minute, looking to cut the Cavalier lead. Taking a pass from senior Alex Reed on the left side of the top of Virginia’s defensive third, Brock skillfully touched the ball around a Virginia defender and outraced a pair of Wahoos. She tried to center the ball across the face of the goal, but the ball was knocked down by Stearns before Doody could run onto it.

Brock was pulled down on the left side of the field 40 yards out to earn a free kick for the Terps in the 80th minute. Collins sent the free kick into the box where it bounced around before finding the feet of Pratt, but her shot was blocked. The rebound went to the feet of Reed, but her effort went wide of the Cavalier net.

The Cavaliers upped its advantage to 5-1 in the 82nd minute when Amber Fry got on the end of a cross from Brittany Ratcliffe and headed the ball into the right side of the Maryland net.

Pratt continued to be aggressive and used her speed to get past Emily Sonnett, but she got away with a tug of Pratt’s jersey to allow reserve keeper Churchill O’Connell enough time to collect the loose ball near the penalty spot.

Mumby, who finished with four saves in the second half, made another quality stop in the 88th minute, denying Reuther her second goal of the match by punching a quality chance up and over the cross bar, but Virginia capitalized on the ensuing corner kick on a goal by Mary Morgan to make it the final score 6-1.

Maryland, which has a 10-10-0 overall record against one of the nation’s toughest schedules, will wait to see if it is selected to make its fifth-straight NCAA tournament appearance when the bracket is revealed at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 11. The selection show will be streamed live on NCAA.com.